The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto) (HKETO) is sponsoring the virtual screening of the Hong Kong film "Drifting" at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Canada's largest Asian film festival, from November 10 to 19.
Speaking before the screening of "Drifting" in a pre-recorded message, the Director of the HKETO, Ms Emily Mo, said that the office is honoured to be partnering with Reel Asian again on its 25th anniversary to present the Ontario premiere of "Drifting" to a Canadian audience. Ms Mo noted that the film "Drifting" is directed by a young Hong Kong moviemaker, Jun Li, and features an outstanding ensemble of actors including stars Francis Ng, Tse Kwan-ho and Loletta Lee.
Hong Kong has been making movies for more than a century, and has been one of the favourite locations for filmmakers around the globe. "In the past decade, Hong Kong movies and moviemakers won over 500 international awards. This film, 'Drifting', taking a closer look at Hong Kong's homeless people, has been selected for various international film festivals including the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Far East Film Festival in Italy, the Zurich Film Festival and many others," Ms Mo said.
She added that in order to support the Hong Kong film industry, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been adopting a multi-pronged approach in boosting its development. "We finance the production of small- to medium-budget films, provide funding support for the industry to attend film festivals overseas, and subsidise training programmes to help nurture young promising talents," Ms Mo said.
Before closing, Ms Mo thanked Reel Asian for bringing many Hong Kong films to Canadian audiences over the years. She remarked that the HKETO will continue to support Hong Kong films to participate in various international film festivals held in Canada, including Reel Asian.
香港電影《濁水漂流》在多倫多亞洲國際電影節放映
香港駐多倫多經濟貿易辦事處（香港經貿處）支持香港電影《濁水漂流》在多倫多亞洲國際電影節網上放映。多倫多亞洲國際電影節是加拿大最大型的亞洲電影節，於十一月十日至十九日舉行。
在《濁水漂流》放映前，香港經貿處處長巫菀菁透過預錄的短片致辭。她表示，香港經貿處很榮幸在多倫多亞洲國際電影節慶祝二十五周年之際與其再度合作，為加拿大觀眾帶來《濁水漂流》的安省首映。《濁水漂流》由香港年輕製片人李駿碩執導，電影雲集出色演員包括吳鎮宇、謝君豪及李麗珍。
香港的電影業發展已逾一個世紀，而香港向來是全球製片人喜愛的拍攝地點之一。巫菀菁表示：「過去十年，香港電影和業界人才共獲得五百多個國際獎項。《濁水漂流》是一齣探討香港露宿者的電影，曾獲選在不同國際電影節放映，包括香港國際電影節、意大利遠東電影節、蘇黎世電影節等。」
巫菀菁補充說，為支持香港的電影業，香港特別行政區（香港特區）政府一直採取多管齊下的措施推動其發展。她說：「香港特區政府資助中低成本的電影製作，資助電影業參與海外電影節，並資助訓練計劃培育後進。」
最後，巫菀菁感謝多倫多亞洲國際電影節多年來為加拿大觀眾帶來多套香港電影。她表示，香港經貿處會繼續支持香港電影參與包括多倫多亞洲國際電影節在內的各個於加拿大舉行的國際電影節。
